Attaching means for inflatable articles



July 16, 1935- J. JACOBS ATTACHING MEANS FOR INFLATABLE ARTICLES FiledMarch 17, 1933 s a? me N N m V B f mwfl A Patented July 16, 1935 l lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE j ATTACHING MEANS FOR INFLATABLE ARTICLESJacob Jacobs, 'Ravenna, Ohio, assignor to The Oak Rubber Company,Ravenna, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application March r1, 193s,SerialiNo. 661,291

8 Claims. (Cl. 4653) This invention relates to inflatable articles suchunderstood that any one of the connections may as toy balloons and hasfor its primary object the be employed in place of. any of the others toacprovision of a new and novel manner of attaching complish the resultfor which the invention is balloons together. a intended.

Heretofore, it has been very difficult to attach In Fig. 1 a grotesqueform, indicated generally 5 balloons together efliciently or to makeattachby the numeral 20, consists of an upper inflatable ments to theexterior of balloons for supporting head member 2| of the so-calledballoon type articles therefrom and the common method has which mayhave, if desired, the appearance of a been to use an adhesive, but thisresulted in an face, as indicated at 22. Opposite to the faceimpractical connection which also tended to portion 22 is the usualinlet 23 through which 10 weaken the rubber of the balloon adjacent thethe head may be inflated by the use of air or connection causing theballoon to burst in many other suitable fluid. A lower inflatable memberinstances. V 24 provides the body portion of the form and con- A furtherobject of the invention, therefore, is sists of the usual rubber balloonprovided with an to provide a simple mechanical connection which inlet25 through which the balloon may be inin no manner causes injury totherubber of' the flated with air or other suitable fluid. It will beballoons and which permits attaching and 'denoted that the head portion2! and the body portaching at will. tion 24 are composed of individualballoons hav- With the objects above indicated and other obm ncommunicating passageway therebetween jects hereinafter explained inview the invention 50 that it is a simple matter to inflate the head 20consists in the construction and combination of portion and body portionin any relationship deelements hereinafter described and claimed. ired,As already explained, considerable dith- Re r n o t draWiI1g1 culty hasbeen encountered in actual practice in i u e 1 s an at n f w ba D-suitably attaching or connecting the balloons toresenting a grotesquefigure connected in the ether. The most common practice has been to 25manner contemplated by the invention? attach the balloons together bymeans of a suit- Fig. 2 is an illustration of two balloons conableadhesive, but, in t use of naptha t meted togefiher in mannercontemplatedby vide for a suitable connection, the rubber becomes theinvention, but involving a modification weakened Where the naptha hasbeen apphed 3 thveteof; and'results in bursting of the balloon at thatFig. 3 is an illustration of a balloon and basket weakened locationFurthermore, when such Suspended therefrom the connection to the fconnections have been made between two bal terior of the balloon mvolvmgthe present r loons it is impossible to temporarily detach the vention;v 7 same without injuring the materials of the bal- Fig. 4 is a stillfurther modification embodying 1OOnS Y the present invention ofconnecting two balloons The present invention therefore resides ntogether; providing what might be termed a mechanical 5 illustrates therfalationship of t bell connection between a pair of balloons which islooms at the tlme of makmg the connect-Ion detachable at will and whichdoes not in any 40 bodying the present invention; manner cause injury tothe balloon at the point 40 Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-61 of Fig. 2 and further showing the relationship of Where the connectlonwas made in the l illustrated t connection employed is more clear y I giifi gggx g gg fi embodying hecon in Figs. '7 and 8. The connect1onconsists pm- Fig. 7 illustrates the relationship of the balmarfly ofproviding pair of independent Shank loons at the time of making amodified connecmembers 26 having enlargedheads 27 adjamnt 45 invention;one end thereof. Portions 28 of the inflatable fi View taken, on line fmembers are gathered or extended around the Fig. and further showing therelationship of heads wn in Fig? 7 and {W then forced the balloons fteinflation embodying the modiwithin the opposite ends of a resilientsleeve 29 fied connection shown in Fig 7, and so that the head portionsassume a relation as 50 Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken on line 99 ofShown in h e Opposite ends 30 of Fig. 3. the sleeve 29 tending to vforcethe portions of In the drawing various modifications embodytheinflatable members tightly around the heads ing the invention areillustrated and it is to be 21. This provides a simple and expedientconnection which will not be disturbed upon the later inflation of theballoons.

In Fig. 2 a pair of inflatable members 3! are shown which are in theform of rubber balloons having inlet openings 32 through which air orother suitable fluid may be introduced to inflate the balloons. Theconnection employed between the balloons 3!, shown in this figure, ismore clearly illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, wherein a shanked member 33,which has an enlarged head 34, is employed in making the connection. Theshank member 33 is placed inside of one of the balloons while the otherballoon is turned inside out. In this relationship adjacent portions 35of the balloons are extended or stretched around the head 34, as'clearlyshown in Fig. 5, and, while so disposed, are secured against accidentaldis engagement from the head 34' by an elastic band 36 wrapped aroundthe extended portion and behind thehead 34. Any other suitable retainingmeans may be employed, such as string or other material, which willfunction in the manner contemplated by the invention. The outer balloonis then turned right side out, as shown Fig. 6', and the balloons may besubsequently inflated without disturbing the connection.

In many instances inflatable members are made to resemble dirigibles andbasket balloons and as alre'ady'stated considerable difliculty has beenencountered in attaching devices such as haskets to the outer surface ofthe inflatable mem- -ber. In Fig. i a simple connection has beenillustrated which is more clearly shown in Fig. 9. In this instance theconnection is similar to the connection illustrated in Fig. 5 with theexception that only a single balloon is employed. In this view the shankmember 3? has an enlarged head 38 at one end thereof. The balloon 35 isfirst turned inside out and a portion 46 thereof is gathered or extendedabout the head 38 and secured against accidental disengagement from thehead by an elastic band 4| placed. behind the head 38, as clearly shownin Fig. 9. The balloon is then turned right side out which leaves theshank of the member 3'! extending outwardly turned inside out andadjacent portions 48' of the balloons ll are extended about the heads 5$and secured against disengagement therefrom by means of resilient'bandst9. The balloons are then turned-right side out 'andmaybe inflated inthe usual manner without interfering with the connection. a

While the use of a headed shank member is disclosed as the preferredelement employed in the connection embodying the invention,,it is to beunderstood that merely aspherical member would function in a similarmanneryas well as a resistable'member;formed upon the inside of one ofthe balloons so that the invention isnot limited to the preciseconstruction disclosed. While I have described the preferred embodimentof the invention'it is to be understood that I am not to be limitedthereto inasmuch as changes and modifications maybe resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An article comprising an inflatable member provided with means forpermitting inflation thereof, a member provided with a substantiallyrigid head connected to the imperforate side wall of said inflatablemember by gathering a portion of said side wall about the head of saidmember, and means for retaining said side wall in gathered relation withthe head of said member.

2. An article comprising a plurality of inflata- I ble members providedwith means for permitting inflation thereof, a substantially rigidmember, a portion of the imperforate side wall of each of saidinflatable members being gathered about saidsubstantially rigid. member,and means for retaining said side walls in gathered relation with saidsubstantially rigid member.

3. An article comprising a plurality of inilatapermittinginflationthereof, a substantially rigid member connected to the imperforate sidewalls of said inflatable niembers'by distending portions of said-sidewalls about said member, and means for retaining said side walls in saiddistended relation with said member.

5. An article comprising a plurality of inflatable members provided withmeans permitting inflation thereof, a member provided with a pluralityof rigid heads, a portion of the imperforate side wall of each of saidinflatable members being gathered about one of said heads, and means forretaining said side walls in gathered relation with said member.

6. An article comprising a plurality of inflatable members provided'withmeans for permitting inflation thereof, a member provided with aplurality of substantially rigid heads, a portion of the imperforateside wall of one of said inflatable members being gathered about one ofsaid heads, a portion of the imperiorate side wall of another of saidmembers being gathered about another of said heads, and means forretaining the side walls of said inflatable members in gathered relationwith said heads.

'1 An article comprising a plurality of inflatable members provided withmeans for permitting inflation thereof, a substantially rigid memberconnected to the imperforate side wall of one of said inflatable membersby gathering a portion of said side wall about said memberfa secondsubstantially rigid member connected tothe imperforate side wall ofanother of said inflatable members by gathering a portion of said sidewall about said second member, and common means for retaining said sidewalls ingathered relation with said substantially rigid members.

8. The method of connecting a plurality of inflatable members togetherat their imperforate side walls, which comprises gathering a portion ofthe imperforateside walls of the inflatable member about a substantiallyrigid member and securing said side walls in said gathered relationshipabout said member.v

' JACOB JACOBS.

